Learner Perceived Similarity and Transfer
Cover image by katerinavulcova from PixabayBy Althea Need KaminskeTransfer of learning, the process by which people can recognize and apply previously learned information to different situations, is one of the primary goals of education. We can think of transfer and learning as happening along a continuum from highly similar to highly dissimilar. Learning, when people…
Feedback emPower Tools: How to Make Your Feedback Go Further
For today’s blog post, I interviewed Dr Rob Nash who together with Prof Naomi Winstone and Dr Kieran Balloo created the website Feedback emPower Tools. Feedback emPower Tools sets out to help learners engage and process feedback they receive. For learners it can be challenging to engage with feedback, perhaps because they either do not…
Are You Sure You’re Spacing?
New StudyToday I’m reviewing a study that recently came out looking at how students choose to use spacing in their own study and how it relates to their performance (1). Importantly, the researchers recognized a limitation in the way students were being asked about their study habits in previous research on spacing. Here are common…
The Learning Scientist Blog TEN YEAR Anniversary!
Cover Image: The Learning Scientists together in Portland, OR, October 2023By Megan SumerackiFebruary 5, 2026 marks the 10 year anniversary of the Learning Scientists Blog. (A blogaversary, if you will!!) In late January, 2016, Jude Weinstein (who went by Yana at that time) and I started what we thought would be a fun little project…
Choice and Mental Effort
One of the factors that can affect how we feel about completing a task is how much choice we had in the matter. A recent study by Wahlers et al. (2025) examined how autonomy (the degree of choice) influences the experience of mental effort while completing a reading comprehension task (2). In the first experiment,…
A Practical Guide to Exam Taking Strategies
Writing PhaseRead the questionsWhen the exam starts, carefully read the questions. Think about what the focus of the question is and if there are any terms you need to define or distinguish between first. Pay attention to the depth of the question. Some questions are shallower and ask for definitions, but others will require you…
Thank You To Our 2025 Community!
Today is (American) Thanksgiving so we wanted to take the opportunity to thank our community! We are so grateful for the continued support, encouragement, and contributions of our community.Thank you to our Patreon sponsors! Your support keeps our email subscription service and podcast production going. The Learning Scientists is an entirely volunteer effort and we…
The Box Metaphor for Working Memory
In a way, I have a few of those ring boxes stored in a shoe box for motor neurons. While I am no neuroanatomy expert, I do have an organizational scheme for some of this information. So when I see motor neuron, I’ve already chunked a bunch of extra information and understanding with that one…
A Framework for Training Students to Better Use Evidence-Based Learning Strategies
Cover photo by RDNE Stock project on PexelsBy Megan SumerackiIf you read our blog, even sporadically, you are almost certainly aware that investigations into evidence-based learning strategies have been ongoing for quite some time. In fact, as we near the end of 2025, I’m realizing that Ebbinghaus’ work on spaced practice was published 140 years…
How Do You Like Them Apples? On the Importance of Teaching in the Time...
Before my little doom machine distracted me, I was going to write this blog post about deliberate practice and expertise development. About the importance of teachers (experts) in helping learners (novices) in developing metacognitive awareness through deliberate practice (1). About how becoming an expert is about more than just knowing more. About how becoming an…
